


Persephone’s Tale

by handmaidofathena



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-05 21:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16818373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/handmaidofathena/pseuds/handmaidofathena
Summary: Zelda didn’t know what had driven her to taking the newborn, into hiding the girl from her father. A girl born before her twin brother. The rightful heir. There is only so long she can hide Faustus’ child from him.





	1. Persephone

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is a slightly odd in that it more so follows Zelda’s train of thought, and basically recaps the end of episode 10. I also haven’t written in a few years, so I’m a bit out of practice 🙈

She had been foolish.  
She had been impulsive.  
She had been wreckless.

When the girl was born, her unholy heart almost fell out of her chest. In those brief moments, when she first held the newborn, Zelda had already made up her mind.

 _She had to protect her_.

A sister born _before_ her brother.  
The first born, legitimate heir to the Blackwood legacy was a girl.  
Born with her father’s eyes and without an ounce of knowledge of her fate.

Zelda had told Lady Blackwood that her first born was “strong and fine”, and that much was true - even if she had made no effort to correct the woman on her child’s gender.

Zelda had placed the newborn in the cradle, swaddling her in a blanket before she returned to Lady Blackwood’s side. “Sister Spellman, Lady Blackwood’s bleeding too much,” Prudence said, giving voice to a fact Zelda was already far too aware of.

If Lady Blackwood managed to deliver the second baby it would be a miracle.

Her fears proved to be true.

Lady Blackwood’s final words, “ _Sister Zelda...my babies...they must be preserved....at all costs_ ” ran through Zelda’s mind as she swaddled the woman’s newborn son in a blanket as Prudence checked for any sign of a pulse in Lady Blackwood’s body.

As Prudence closed over Lady Blackwood’s eyes, Zelda knew time was precious.

What happened next was practically a blur. Zelda had passed the boy to his half sister, before retrieving his twin sister from the cradle. “Take her somewhere safe....keep her safe” Prudence pleaded in a hushed voice, knowing what it was like to be more in ‘unfortunate’ circumstances.

Both her and her sister suffered at the hands of their society - Prudence for being illegitimate, and the newborn for being a girl born before her twin brother. They were two different sides of the same coin.

“Watch over the boy and Lady Blackwood, I’ll be as quick as I can. Whatever you do, do not let Father Blackwood in,” Zelda insisted, glancing over at the corpse of Lady Blackwood one final time before spiriting herself and the newborn girl away from the manor.

It had taken her only a few minutes to retrieve the old cradle in the attic, deciding it was a safer bet to keep the infant up there - out of sight and out of earshot from the rest of the Spellman family. Enchanting the cradle to rock in a soothing motion, she watched over the girl for a moment longer before once again returning to the manor - and just in time as well.

No sooner had she returned than Father Blackwood had stormed into the room.

Faustus had asked her to be the Night Mother to his children. If only he knew how much she was taking that to heart.

“Something strange and not unheard of happened. One of your sons - the dominant one - consumed the submissive one in the womb” Zelda said, stringing the fake narrative along as she moved to the cradle to collect Blackwood’s son. She felt sorry for the child whose fate had already been sealed. For now though, he slept in peaceful slumber as she carried him to his father’s arms.

When Faustus called the newborn his “ only begotten son - and heir”, Zelda knew her decision had been the right one. Sharing a knowing glance with Prudence, she found herself nervously twisting the bracelet on her wrist. “I will call on someone to take care of Lady Blackwood, and send someone to fetch a night nurse” Zelda announced, as Prudence slipped out of the room herself, knowing there was no way she could be alone with Faustus right now - not after what she has just done.

————

After she returned with the night nurse, finding that Lady Blackwood’s body has already been removed, Zelda took the opportunity to slip away. By the time she made it back to the attic in the Spellman household, her energy levels seemed to e dropping by the minute.

The infant was awake, staring up silently at Zelda as she peaked into the cradle. Naturally, the girl had her father’s eyes. There was no denying who the girl’s father was. The man she was having a relationship with - if that was in the proper word for it - the man she had known for longer she would care to admit, the man with whom she danced around the line between friendship and ‘something more’ for centuries.

This was his child, yet she had to protect her from his own ambition.

With Sabrina, Zelda had been the one to watch over her at night, to tend to her when she was sick, and to guide her through life. Hilda had been the one to spoil the girl, to have hardly put her down those first few years, to have taken the more visible maternal role. Hilda and she had two different but complimentary roles in Sabrina’s upbringing.

Zelda knew she wasn’t Sabrina’s mother, she didn’t dare claim to be anything of the sort - but in her heart, Sabrina was someone she would willingly lay her life down for. Gladly.

Still, she wasn’t really her mother. Now though, Zelda had once again found herself caring for a motherless child.

At least she’d have Hilda.

_Or so she had thought._

That hope went out like a lightbulb when her sister had found her in their room with the baby, after she had carried the girl and the cradle down from the attic.

“I’m moving out....of this bedroom,” Hilda revealed, as though her sister’s baby bombshell had been a throwaway comment about the whether, “I think it’s time I had a room of my own”. As her sister walked out of the room, Zelda felt her heart beating faster as she looked down into the cradle.

This wouldn’t be like it was when Sabrina was a baby. No, she would have to do this by herself this time.

As the door shut behind Hilda, catching the wind and slamming with more force than usual, the baby in the cradle began to stir, crying as she woke up from her restless slumber.

“Hush, my darling,” Zelda cooed, reaching into the cradle to retrieve the child, rocking her gently in her arms. The girl quickly settled once again, content with being held in a warm embrace.

Praise Satan, she had been impulsive.

Regardless of how intimate Zelda had gotten with Faustus, even she had no idea what he would have done with the girl. Even if she had said the boy was the first born, he could have tossed the girl aside like yesterday’s newspaper.

Sitting herself down on the bed, her heart felt heavy in her chest as she cradled the child.

Praise Satan, she had truly lost all sense.

“I suppose we better think of a name for you then,” Zelda thought aloud, sounding almost emotionally exhausted while watching as the child’s eyes fell heavy with sleep. She recalled how Edward had picked Sabrina’s name out months before the girl was even been born, yet Zelda had never been the sort of woman to have carried a baby name with her throughout life.

The girl’s twin was called Judas - the follower who had sold out the son of the mortal’s god. “You need a good name - a strong name,” Zelda reasoned with herself, rattling through her brain as she considered options. The infant deserved a name with a meaning, something to rival that of her brother’s.

It was then it hit her.

“Persephone,” Zelda said, the name falling from her lips like a whisper, rolling off her tongue as she tried it out for the first time.

Daughter of Zeus, wife of Hades, Queen of the Underworld.

“A strong name” She declared triumphantly, standing up from the bed as she carried the infant towards the window that overlooked the estate.

Staring towards the woods, she shook her head as she remembered the events of Sabrina’s botched dark baptism. Would Faustus treat his own daughter that way? “We just have to figure out how to keep you hidden from your father, Persephone” Zelda concluded, her eyes falling on the sleeping baby, who had no idea of the chaotic circumstances of her birth or the challenges that faced her in this life.

Praise Satan, what had she gotten herself into?


	2. Judas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an attempt to sort of frame Zelda and Father Blackwood’s relationship following Constance’s death, and present the conflict for Zelda between Faustus and Persephone.

_Zelda had forgotten how much work a newborn was._

She was practically running on one of Hilda’s energy tonics as she tried to balance caring for Persephone, with her commitments at the Academy - and her duties as Judas’ Night mother.

“And you know that if you need me then just send me a note, okay?” Zelda insisted, as she finished the top buttons of Persephone’s babygrow before she looked up at Ambrose, who stood arms folded as he rolled his eyes at his aunt. “Of course, she’ll be fine with me” He reminded her, having stayed behind from the Academy - under the pretence that he was helping at the mortuary - to allow his Aunt Zelda to carry out her classes with the Satanic Choir and to visit Faustus and Judas. “Just don’t let me come back and find her listening to those ridiculous Disney songs again” Zelda insisted, recalling how she had found him the day before playing a song for the girl from one of those annoyingly sickly mortal Disney films. “I make no promises” Ambrose confessed, moving to scoop the infant out of his Aunt’s arms so she could slip herself into her coat.

Zelda kissed Persephone on the forehead before gathering her notes, calling over her shoulder that she shouldn’t be more than a few hours.

* * *

When Zelda arrived at Faustus’ office, she was greeted by the cries of Judas as he kicked up a storm in his cradle. Dropping her things on the desk, she made her way over to the baby. “Where’s your nurse at, little dove?” She asked, rocking the boy in her arms as she swayed slowly, lulling his piercing sobs down to a whimper before he settled peacefully in her arms. “Couldn’t you have chosen a better nickname for the boy?” Faustus asked as he appeared from the shadows of the doorway, clasping a tumbler of whisky in one hand, his cane in the other.

“Judas needs a mother, not some infuriating nurse,” Faustus acknowledged, answering the woman’s question while leaning against the bookcase as he took a swing of his whisky. “You are his Night mother after all”, he reminded her as he watched as his son lay contently in the arms of his unholy godmother.

It had been a week since Lady Blackwood’s death. A week since she had stolen Persephone away. A week since Faustus had finally held his only begotten son in his arms.

During that week she had kept her distance from both him and his son. Unashamedly so.

“I know,” Zelda breathed, looking down at the boy in her arms. He hadn’t ask to be in this situation anymore than Persephone had asked to be. They were the innocents caught in the middle of this chaos.

“What happened to Constance was not your fault,” Faustus insisted, though he wondered if the fates had fashioned it this way. Getting his troublesome wife out of the picture while still securing his place by giving him his only begotten son. Zelda remained silent, looking down into the eyes of the baby in her arms. Much like Persephone, Judas has inherited his father’s eyes. It wasn’t right - or natural - to separate twins, but she had no choice. Zelda was brought back to reality by Faustus placing his hands on her arms, making her look him in the eyes. “You’re troubled about something,” He declared, and Zelda resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the irony.

She was troubled by the fact the man she was having some form of a relationship with was the father of the little girl currently being hidden in her home, and whose existence he had absolutely no knowledge of.

Not to mention that she had hardly slept since the birth, spending the small hours of the morning watching Persephone as though out of fear that Satan himself would take the child away in the cover of the night. 

“It’s been a trying time, that’s all” Zelda replied, knowing that such an answer would at least content Faustus for the time being. “I’m sorry that I’ve been distant” She said, knowing that she couldn’t explain it away as just being because of Constance’s death, “I didn’t want anyone getting the wrong impression” Zelda concluded, hoping that such a slight white lie would be enough. It was part of the reason after all. She could easily envision how the rumour mill would have worked overtime if she was seen as slipping into Lady Blackwood’s shoes before her body was even cold.

_Did she have any desire to be “Lady Blackwood”?_

_Maybe once - but that was another lifetime ago._

“Let people think whatever they want to think, Zelda” Faustus muttered as he looked down at the child in her arms, content for the first time that day. “You’re his Night Mother, no one should question why you’re here,” He reminded her, as well as the fact that Zelda’s position at the Academy had become a permanent one following Lady Blackwood’s death. “It is where you belong,” He concluded, placing his whisky glass down on the desk to signal an end of that particular conversation.

_At least for now._

“How has the baby been?” Zelda asked, hoping that keeping their conversation focused on Judas - and keeping the baby in her arms - would prevent them slipping into their own familiar ways. “Restless,” Faustus confessed, as he sat down behind his desk, his shoulders visibly dropping as he shut his eyes for a moment. “He cries day and night - you would think he was trying to raise hellfire,” He said, bringing his fingers to his temple, the sound still ringing in his ears even after the child had settled.

No, Zelda knew the baby wasn’t trying to raise hellfire. He was crying for his twin - and for his mother.

Cradling the baby in her left arm, she used her right hand to take his clasped hand between her fingers, letting him relax his muscles before he gripped onto her pointer finger.

Judas was as innocent as Persephone. They were victims of their circumstances. The fates had played a cruel and wicked game with these children. 

“You need to bond with him,” Zelda spoke softly, knowing she was in no position to tell Faustus how to father his son, especially given the fact the man’s daughter was currently being hidden away in her home, but Judas deserved a chance. If nothing else, the child deserved a chance. “I need to what?” Faustus asked, assuming he had misheard the woman as he watched her slender form move from her position in front of the cradle to sit down on the chaise lounge near the fire, its amber flames being regenerated by her presence. “Bond with him Faustus, it would do you both some good” Zelda insisted, raising her voice to be sure that he heard her clearly this time. The man raised his eyebrow but did not comment.

Caring for children - or bonding with them - was a women’s task, or one for a nurse. It was not the place of a High Priest to “bond” with his son and heir.

“If you speak to him, your voice will start to settle him, he won’t cry so much,” Zelda revealed, recalling how by the time Sabrina was a few months old, she could be settled just by hearing the voice of one of her aunts across the room. “I suppose that’s probably the quietest I have seen him since he was born,” Faustus confessed, knowing that at this stage he was prepared to try just about anything in order to be able to do his work peacefully. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by the unholy shrilling of his son’s cries. Zelda hummed in agreement, watching as the infant snuggled against her breasts, still clutching onto her finger as sleep began to overcome him, his thick eyelashes dropping as he fell into a peaceful slumber.

When Zelda lifted her eyes, Faustus was standing in front of her, bending down in front of her as he watched his son sleep peacefully in her arms. “I meant what I said Zelda, the boy needs a mother and not some nurse,” Faustus repeated, his finger running across the soft skin of Judas’ cheek as he watched the infants chest rise and fall almost in time with Zelda’s.

Zelda didn’t know how to look Faustus in the eyes after what she had done.

_How was she meant to answer that?_

She could hardly say “I’m sorry I can’t be a mother to your son because I’m already trying to be a mother to the daughter you have no idea exists”.

Zelda felt as though the silence was deafening as Faustus slipped the infant out of her arms before he stood to his full height. Now with Judas asleep, they were for all pretence and purposes alone. She swallowed deeply before she stood, taking the time to smooth out the slight crease in her pencil skirt. There was something different about the man as he held the infant in his arms. Like a lion with his cub - prepared to fight off the seven devils themselves to protect him. Zelda explained such behaviour to herself as the actions of a man desperate to secure his immortal legacy, and restore the glory to his House and name, through his son and heir.

As she moved to step around Faustus, she felt the man suddenly grasp her wrist forcefully. His grip left her rooted to the spot on the carpet in front of him. Forcing her to make eye contact. “Do you remember what you said that night before I asked you to be Judas’ night mother?” Faustus asked, his question visibly taking Zelda aback as she searched his eyes to find the meaning behind his question. She recalled how that particular night, blinded by the afterglow, she had let her guard down in front of the High Priest.

“No, I don’t” Zelda lied sweetly, shaking her head as she glanced down at the infant between them. Her life was quickly becoming a game of chess unlike any other. He was already starting to outsmart her - even if he wasn’t in possession of all the facts. “You said that there was something in the idea of having one partner,” Faustus reminded her, repositioning Judas in his arm so he could use his right hand to gently tip up Zelda’s chin so the woman looked him in the eyes. “with whom to explore all the realms of agony and ecstasy” He said, quoting her own words back to her, watching as her eyes flickered with realisation.

No, she was not about to let herself go down this path. She couldn’t - not with Persephone hidden away as she was.

Her crimson coated lips curled up in a smile, a flush coming to her cheeks as she stepped forward to place one hand on the back of Judas’ head and the other on Faustus’ cheek.

Zelda would have to play hard to get. See how far she could push whatever ounce of humanity was left in Faustus to the surface.

Leaning in, she kissed the man’s cheek before dropping down to place one on Judas’ forehead. “I’m late for my class,” Zelda breathed, having glanced at the grandfather clock and found that she was in fact almost five minutes late for her seminar. Slipping her hand out of Faustus’ hold, she stepped away from him, slipping through his fingers as her heels echoed against the wooden floor as she moved off the carpet.

As she walked away, Zelda felt her chest becoming heavier with each step, her heartbeat ringing in her ears.

She could feel it in her bones - a tragedy was at hand. 

**Author's Note:**

> So full disclaimer, I don’t have a full plan for this piece yet - so I’m 100% open to suggestions/ideas!


End file.
